FORMER top five player, Eugenie Bouchard has sent a message to the world that she might not be done just yet, with the 26-year-old winding back the clock in Prague for the only completed main draw match today. While rain interrupted matchplay and forced a qualifying match to be suspended, it was not before the world number 330 trounced eighth seed Russian, Veronika Kudermetova.

Bouchard has been heavily criticised over the past few years for focusing on her modelling career over her tennis one, with the Canadian touted as a potential Grand Slam winner as a teenager, but fell down the rankings over time to the point where only wildcards helped her secure main draw spots. Whatever she did over the break clearly worked, because she completely destroyed the world number 40, winning 6-0 6-3 in an hour and 15 minutes. It is a crucial win for the Canadian wildcard who chose to play the European circuit over the American one and as rain halted play she will have an extra day to rest on her competitors.

All eyes were on court to see how the Canadian might return after a long lay-off and she stunned the crowd with a complete domination in the first set, winning winning 28 of a possible 42 points in the set, including 13 of 18 off Kudermetova’s serve. While the Russian did enough to create four break points off Bouchard’s inconsistent serving efficiency of 45.8 per cent, the Canadian saved all four, and instead broke on three of six occasions herself. Kudermetova served at an elite 77.8 per cent, but could not seem to win a trick on serve in the first set, not managing a game in a 6-0 trouncing.

The second set was much more even, with Kudermetova going up a gear, but Bouchard getting her serve to click. She produced five aces – after none in the first set – and served at 66.7 per cent efficiency. Crucially, the Canadian won 77.3 per cent of her first serve points, only dropping a total of 10 points all up on her serve, and saving the one break point opportunity the eighth seed had. Kudermetova also lifted her serving success rate on her first and second serve up to above 60 per cent, but dropped the only break point opportunity handed to the Canadian, which ultimately cost her the match, going down 6-0 6-2.

Bouchard now can wait at least a full day until having to take on the winner over Slovenian, Tamara Zidansek or Czech Republic, Katerina Siniakova in the Round of 16. Rain has really caused issues for the Prague competitors, with only Kristyna Pliskova and 15-year-old Czech compatriot, Linda Fruhvirtova‘s match getting underway, with Pliskova up 3-2 in a main draw debut that the teenager is unlikely to forget anytime soon. The most unlucky from the rain delay will be the winner of Elena Gabriela Ruse and Tamara Korpatsch, with the pair battling it out for the last main draw spot. Ruse is currently leading 5-4 in the first set, but there might be no rest for the winner, with a number of qualifiers expected to front up later on in day two.